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Microsoft works with governments, investors, nonprofits, and a wide range of other organizations including BSR, the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship, CSR Europe, the Clinton Global Initiative, Net Impact, and the World Economic Forum.

“Another factor of our success is our employees’ passion for supporting their communities and causes through charitable giving and volunteering,” he adds. In fiscal year 2012, 93% of employees reported feeling that Microsoft is a good corporate citizen in their communities and around the world. “Our employees and our partners—approximately 640,000 small to mid-size businesses around the world—are our best ambassadors when it comes to sharing the positive results of our CSR work around the world.”

In September 2012, Microsoft refocused much of their efforts around creating opportunities for youth by launching Microsoft YouthSpark, a major initiative to connect hundreds of millions of youth with opportunities for education, employment and entrepreneurship.The company is working to bridge the opportunity divide that separates youth who have opportunities from those who don’t, with the goal of helping young people secure their individual futures and also the future of our global economy, Bross says.

In October 2012, Microsoft celebrated their 30th Employee Giving Campaign and announced the milestone achievement of $1 billion in employee contributions (inclusive of company match) to more than 31,000 nonprofits around the world since 1983.

Microsoft employees in the U.S. have also volunteered more than 2 million hours of their time to causes they care about since Microsoft began their volunteer match program in 2005. In total, they’ve provided more than $6.5 billion in cash, services and software to nonprofits around the world since 1983, Bross says.

And their CSR efforts are paying off.

In 2012, the company reported revenue of $73.7 billion, an increase of $3.76 billion from the previous year. “Positive revenue growth is clearly a factor of many things, most significantly our product strategy and our ability to deliver great technology solutions to the market. But it’s also true that consumers are more likely to engage with companies and brands that they respect and trust,” Bross says. “Our CSR efforts have a direct and positive impact on people in our own backyard and around the world, and in turn, their ongoing engagement with us contributes to Microsoft’s business success.”

No. 2 fell slightly from the top spot in 2011, but it remains high in the CSR rankings because “it’s seen as the best company to work for in the world,” Nielsen says. “Google’s strong workplace perception helps secure its strong reputation overall and within CSR.”

Fifty percent of consumers across the 15 countries say they definitely think that Google treats its employees fairly and takes their well-being into consideration. “And when consumers are asked where corporate responsibility starts, they say it’s with the employees,” Nielsen says.

But Google might be facing a "growing-up problem,” he adds. “As the company moves into its teenage years, it is losing its baby image of ‘Do No Evil.’ The global war in technology is showing a different side to Google where they are the established company fiercely defending their business against the younger , the sleeker , and the lower profiled Amazon.”

Google saw a drop in overall reputation from No. 1 to No. 6 this year, and it needs to carefully define how it will compete in the future while maintaining a strong emotional appeal with stakeholders around the world, Nielsen says. “Consumer’s perception on Google’s citizenship varies from country to country, with an excellent score of around 80 in Australia and Russia, to an average score in the mid-60s in China, South Korea and Germany.”